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The Outsiders (1983)

When two poor greasers, Johnny, and Ponyboy are assaulted by a vicious gang, the socs, and Johnny kills one of the attackers, tension begins to mount between the two rival gangs, setting off a turbulent chain of events. (imdb)

Francis Ford Coppola did something out of his norm here and it failed. The movie is short giving little breathing room, yet little actually happens and its hard to become attached to the characters. The movie is a decent showing of what the 80s thought the 60s were and a nice introduction to Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise, but on the whole I didn't like it.

(Theatrical cut): The Outsiders is much closer to an Old Hollywood film than a typical 80's teen drama, which initially seems strange given its era defining cast. It's certainly a romantic view of youth, but it's not romanticised, as others have incorrectly noted, at least no moreso than films like Rebel Without a Cause. Coppola Snr's lush score adds a welcome melancholy tinge to the picturesque imagery, but the form chosen by Coppola Jnr doesn't express youth angst as vividly as Rumble Fish.

I, what? What the hell is with the cast? My eyes nearly popped outta my head when the credits started rolling, because that's a pretty massive collection of 'names'--I'd only recognized the Karate Kid! I also didn't realize this was a Francis Ford Coppolo film until logging on here (I figured it was a "presented by..." type deal), and that has me scratching my head, because it sure wasn't masterfully put together. Interesting structure, though, and has way more heart than I thought it'd have.

How is it that the director of The Godfather turned out this over-earnest, and too-frequently-twinkly, sappy piece of crap?? And that score... mushy and "symphonic", it wells up at EVERY moment moment that could be perceived as emotional (if you aren't too busy rolling your eyes). It all feels much more like a "dramatic" '70's television show. Patrick Swayze is the only one to emerge relatively unscathed from this morass.